There’s definitely a lot of important activity going on, both in the US and abroad. But no one issue is news-dominant, according to the latest Project for Excellence in Journalism report for the week of 9/28/09-10/4/09.
Health care edged out Iran as the #1 story overall, but among the five media studied, three had an alternate #1. The economy, Iran and the 2016 Olympics were the other hot topics.
Radio and cable both stayed with health care, giving it 20% and 21% of the newshole respectively, which is what put the story on top among all five media. Network television had it as a top 10 story, but gave it only 4% of available news time.
Two scandals managed to get into the top ten, with Roman Polanski outpolling David Letterman 4% to 2%.
Here are complete results:
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
| Health care debate | 11% | 9% | 6% | 4% | 20% | 21% |
| Iran | 10% | 10% | 13% | 10% | 11% | 4% |
| Economic crisis | 9% | 12% | 11% | 5% | 3% | 12% |
| 2016 Olympics | 7% | x | 6% | 14% | 9% | 9% |
| Afghanistan | 6% | 3% | 5% | 4% | 9% | 8% |
| Samoan earthquake/tsunami | 4% | x | 7% | 10% | 2% | x |
| Indonesian earthquake | 4% | x | 10% | 5% | x | x |
| Roman Polanski arrest | 4% | 3% | 4% | 7% | 3% | 2% |
| Swine flu | 3% | 4% | x | 6% | x | x |
| David Letterman | 3% | x | 3% | 4% | 4% | 3% |
| Ardi fossil discovery | x | 4% | x | x | x | x |
| VA gubernatorial election | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| G-20 summit | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| Texting and driving | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| Typhoons in Far East | x | x | 3% | x | x | x |
| ACORN controversy | x | x | x | x | 4% | x |
| Obama administration | x | x | x | x | 3% | 4% |
| Gun control | x | x | x | x | x | 3% |
| Mexican drug war | x | x | x | x | x | 2% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
